Tyranny of Steel

After the drama that unfolded during his stay at Graz, Berengar found himself in an awkward position; Adela was not speaking to him at the moment due to several complicated reasons that Berengar was too dull in social matters to properly comprehend.

As Berengar was thinking over this problem he had no way out of, he heard a knock on his door. As such, he cautiously opened the door and peered out from the crack in it. In the doorway was Adela, who was still dressed in her white and gold attire from earlier.

She had a pouting look on her face, though it no longer contained the fury of a woman scorned, and as such, Berengar relaxed his guard a little while opening the door slowly. As soon as the door opened most slightly, Adela pushed her way into the room and sat down on the bed with her arms crossed and her cheeks puffed out. After a long and awkward silence, Berengar was the first to broach the subject; he decided to bite the bullet and apologize.

"I am sorry if I offended you; I should not have mentioned Linde's figure when defending my actions..."

Berengar stared at Adela for a few moments with a puppy dog look in his eyes before the young girl finally spoke.

"Do you honestly think I am mad about the fact that you mentioned Linde's near-perfect body?"

Berengar looked at Adela with confusion; he had no idea why she was upset if it was not because he mentioned her rival. However, those were not the words that came out of his mouth. Instead, he merely questioned her phrasing.

"Near perfect?"

This immediately caused Adela to pout again, and she quickly scolded Berengar.

"Don't push it!"

Seeing her mood quickly sour, Berengar decided it would be best to shut his trap and thus took his scolding from his future wife as a man. Adela, of course, was more than happy to do so; as such, she started her lecture by asking Berengar a simple question that he did not expect.

"Berengar, you don't have the slightest clue why I am angry, do you?"

Berengar shook his head; at this point, it was better, to be honest with his fiancee and so he acted accordingly. Seeing his reaction, Adela sighed before loosening her posture and collapsing on the bed, where she sprawled out on it before expressing her long and complex thought process.

"At first I was angry because you said you were completely untempted by Ava's body because Linde's body was better, I had time to think about why that was, and I eventually concluded that I was worried about the future; when I finally grow into my full figure, which is most likely going to turn out like the rest of the women in our family, that you would not be interested in me in the slightest, because you have Linde..."

Berengar listened to Adela's complaints closely and realized that this was a concern that he never even considered to be a possibility; however, before he could address her worries, she sat up from the bed and crossed her legs while resting her cut doll-like face on her hand where she proceeded to glare menacingly at Berengar. Immediately her tone shifted from understanding to wrathful, which caused the hair on Berengar's neck to spike up.

"Then I realized that such a thing was simply impossible. Though Linde's body is perfectly proportioned, so are many of the women in our family! Ava used to have an even better body than she has now before she had her three kids, so clearly, it was not that you found her unattractive, as I know you like a full-figured woman! When I realized that, I knew that you lied to me because you were afraid to tell me the truth, that my sister's body aroused you! I'm right, aren't I?"

A thirteen-year-old girl was lecturing Berengar about finding her elder sister attractive; Adela of course was right on the money; Berengar lied to her to defend his actions. As such, he was sitting on his knees with his head bent like a small child being lectured by his mother for starting a fire in the living room. After Berengar's silence filled the room, Adela snapped at him.

"Well, aren't I?"

Berengar quickly nodded his head in affirmation without saying a word, which Adela found to be unbefitting of the infamous Tyrant of Steel, so much so that she laughed before making fun of him.

"Why are you so afraid? It is not like I'm going to have you beheaded..."

Berengar, of course, took a few moments to collect his thoughts before he let out a defeated sigh.

"After screwing up with Linde, I feel like I have been walking on thin ice around you as if I am one more mistake away from you leaving me, and I am terrified of such a thing. So I lied about finding your sister attractive because I felt if you found out the truth, you would think I am a lecherous fool and abandon me."

After hearing Berengar tell her the truth about how he felt, which is all she ever longed for, tears began to form in Adela's eyes. She had no idea that he felt like he was walking on eggshells the entire time he was around her, and such words pulled on her heartstrings.

Adela got down from the bed and kneeled next to Berengar, which alerted him; however, in the next moment, before he could react. The teenage girl grabbed ahold of his head and stuffed it in her lap. After doing so, she looked away from Berengar, trying not to show off how embarrassed she was. Where she muttered in a low voice that was just loud enough for Berengar to hear correctly.

"Dummy! I would never leave you!"

Berengar fought to prevent a smile from appearing on his face, but it was a losing battle. As an avid fan of anime and manga in his previous life, he had always desired the fabled lap pillow, but even after living two lives, he had yet to have such a thing occur to him until now.

While Berengar rested his head in Adela's lap, she began to stroke his silky golden hair, completely undeterred by the grease that coated her fingers as she did so. The two sat like that for some time, to the point where Berengar nearly fell asleep.

Unfortunately, the endearing scene came to an end when another knock appeared on the door. The familiar voice behind the door belonged to Ava, who had come to make amends with Berengar.

"Berengar, are you in there? I have come to apologize for my actions..."

Both Berengar and Adela were scowling the moment they realized who the knock belonged to, this little vixen had caused so much trouble between the two of them in such a short time, and here she was ruining their reunion.

However, Berengar decided to get up from his relaxed position and head for the door where he opened it, much to the chagrin of Adela, who pouted where she was kneeling. After opening the door, he was scowling at Ava which immediately frightened her, especially after the conversation she had with her father.

However, Ava swallowed her pride and immediately bowed her head in reverence before apologizing.

"I am truly sorry for what I did; I hope that you can forgive my husband and me for our actions!"

Berengar merely scoffed at her reaction; she picked a horrible time to apologize, all she managed to do was torment him further by interrupting his heavenly lap pillow! At this moment, Ava noticed Adela was in his room, and she recognized that she might have been interrupting something important. Especially when she considered the way the two looked at her.

However, she was already here and had spoiled the mood, so she might as well get this over with; as such, Berengar looked at her indifferently before sighing heavily.

"Whatever, we are family, so I will let it slide just this once, but you and your husband owe me for being so benevolent!"

Hearing Berengar's command instantly sent shivers down Ava's spine as she recollected herself before nodding in agreement to Berengar.

"Sure, whatever we can do to help, we will gladly repay this favor!"

After agreeing, Berengar shooed the woman away; he no longer wanted to be around her.

"If that is all, leave us!"

Seeing that Adela was giving her a deathly glare, and Berengar was no different, Ava quickly bowed before running off into the distance. After doing so, Berengar shut the door and returned to Adela, where he had a smile on his face, before asking Adela the question on his mind.

"Now... where were we?"

Upon witnessing the grin on Berengar's face, Adela's cheeks flushed in embarrassment before she muttered.

"Just this once!"

Seeing that the girl had accepted, Berengar immediately hopped back into the lap pillow, where he quickly fell asleep. After dozing off, Adela merely stared down at his sleeping face lovingly before kissing him on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams!"